BEULAVILLE — Chris Scarborough’s game-winning 3-pointer in the final seconds was just as East Duplin coach Robert Ross drew it up during a timeout.

Well, not exactly.

Yes, with the Panthers down by one Ross definitely wanted Scarborough, who’d already hit three 3-pointers, to fire from beyond the arc.

“We did not want to go to overtime,” Ross said. “We drew it up for a screen…, (but) wanted it a little closer, the screen maybe not come up so far. But they were in a zone and jumped it a little bit.”

And, of course, Ross wanted 5-foot-10 senior to hit the 3-pointer, which he did with 24.9 seconds left.

But Ross didn’t plan on Scarborough banking the shot in from a foot or two beyond the 3-point line, which he did to lift the Panthers to a 56-55 win over South Lenoir on Saturday night, handing the Blue Devils their first East Central 2-A Conference loss.

The game was moved from Friday because of concerns about bad weather.

“I knew it had a shot,” Ross said as he watched anxiously from the bench as the shot arced toward the goal. “But I knew it was going to bank, though. I knew it wasn’t going in the bottom of the net. But I knew it had a shot to go in. … The only thing I didn’t tell him was make sure he banks the son of gun.”

The Panthers (7-11, 5-3) trailed 55-53 after South Lenoir freshman Jonte Midgette, who finished with a game-high 23 points along with several nice assists, scored on a layup with 45 seconds left in the game.

After Ross called a timeout with 38.1 seconds left, Scarborough, who finished with 16 points, came off a screen on the right wing and, with a defender in his face, launched what proved to be the beginning of the end of South Lenoir’s unbeaten ECC record.

“Coach, he just told us the play and what to do and we executed,” Scarborough said. “When I let it go, I didn’t know it was going to hit backboard. I thought it was going to go over a little. Thank God, it hit backboard.

“I thought it was (too hard). But it was just enough.”

The Blue Devils had a shot to regain the lead, but Midgette missed a driving jumper from the right and Jaquan Wooten’s follow also didn’t drop before Nicholas Williams grabbed the rebound with four seconds left.

Williams was fouled, but he missed the front end of a 1-and-1. South Lenoir’s desperation shot from halfcourt fell short and the Blue Devils fell to 11-5 and 7-1, although they are still the only ECC team with only one league loss.

Page 2 of 3 - South Lenoir used its superior size and length to make life tough under the boards for the Panthers, who nonetheless never wilted from the challenge, repeatedly going inside. And while South Lenoir shot 49 percent (21 of 43) to 37 percent (22 of 60) for the Panthers, East Duplin outrebounded the Blue Devils 28-27 behind Montell Stallings, who had 7 rebounds along with a team-high 20 points.

East Duplin also had just 12 turnovers to 20 for South Lenoir.

“The thing we talked about before the game (was) our energy just had to be up there,” Ross said. “I felt like we could play with them. I knew size-wise it was going to be tough. I have no clue how many blocks they had, but I know they had plenty.

“But I just told them if we could match the energy and put a little bit more (into it) and not get out-rebounded by 10 and maybe out-rebound them then maybe we could come out of here with a big win.”

From the get-go the Panthers battled the Blue Devils, although South Lenoir led 15-10 after the opening quarter behind 10 points by Midgette, including a 3-pointer and a three-point play. But the Panthers used a 14-2 run that included 3-pointers by Malik Baker and Scarborough to go up 24-17 with 3:24 left in the half.

But South Lenoir put together its own run of 10-3 and the half finished tied at 27-27.

The Blue Devils led by eight twice in the third quarter, which ended with the visitors ahead 44-40, but East Duplin went up 47-46 on a 3-pointer by Scarborough with 6:41 left in the game. After that, there were two ties and two lead changes before Scarborough’s game-winner.

“It’s big, it’s real big,” Scarborough said. “It feels good, too.”

Girls

South Lenoir 44, East Duplin 42: In a battle of two of the top teams in the ECC, turnover-plagued East Duplin fell to the Blue Devils, who got a 16-foot-jumper by Caroline Jones with 34 seconds to go for the game-winner.

After Jones’ jumper, the teams traded turnovers before, after an East Duplin timeout with 11.4 seconds left, Heather West picked off a Panther pass with about five seconds left to clinch the victory.

East Duplin, which was tied atop the ECC with Clinton, fell to 14-4 and 6-2.. South Lenoir is now 12-4 and 6-2. Clinton plays at Richlands on Monday.

The Panthers finished with 25 turnovers (five more than South Lenoir).

“That’s probably underestimated,” coach Mark Lane said.

But that wasn’t all that concerned coach Lane, who said his team’s defense just gave up too many easy buckets to South Lenoir.

“Even though we made so many mistakes offensively, I thought the name of the game was we just didn’t play good defense,” Lane said. “We just didn’t do a good job stopping the basketball at all. Too many mistakes and too many chances.”